


Splintered

by Crab_Lad



Series: Crab's need for clone wars content [11]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin is angery, Gen, Not my best stuff, Out of Character, Umbara, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23515429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crab_Lad/pseuds/Crab_Lad
Summary: Anakin knows somethings wrong the moment he sets foot on Coruscant.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & the 501st, CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555 & Anakin Skywalker, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, CT-7567 | Rex/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Crab's need for clone wars content [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662106
Comments: 5
Kudos: 409





	Splintered

**Author's Note:**

> this was something someone on my server talked about that i had to write

Anakin knew something was wrong the moment he landed on Coruscant. There were no guards, not Jedi, and most importantly no _Chancellor_. No welcoming committee, just him, a handful of confused 501st troops, and an empty landing platform.

“Let’s go,” he barked at the men, “Set course back for Umbara. Now!”

_Something was wrong._

Umbara was still so far off, even in Hyperspace. It would take days for them to get back, and it had been days already since they had left. He wasn’t sure what was happening but Krell had _lied._ A Jedi had lied.

Those days were spent in tense silence, pacing around his quarters aboard the _Resolute._ Many troopers of the other companies tried to approach him, and he was glad they were safe. Glad that the other companies were right here on the ship where they should be. But not Torrent.

Torrent was still on the ground, still planet-side on Umbara. The planet had been hell before he had left, he couldn’t imagine what it was like with an unknown figure leading them. Someone Anakin was starting to trust less and less. Hadn’t Anakin seen Krell’s casualty rates?

With a lurch, the ship slammed into the middle of debris, left over from the battle above the terrible planet. Ships from both sides were shattered, trashed, ripped apart. An Umbaran fighter, the Force lingering around it. It caressed the area, holding it gently, as if holding something close, careful, in mourning.

The entire planet was surrounded in Dark. Danger and fear, sharp around, like spikes protecting something. Everything felt wrong, hurt and wounded. The planet and the people on it. It was so much darkness, filling every nook and cranny, invading the ship and setting him on edge.

The descent onto the planet was slow going, anticipation swirling, mixing with nausea. Anakin swallowed, shoving his nerves down. The reports started filtering in, but he didn’t even attempt to look at them. He didn’t want to see them. Not unless he heard the truth, directly from the mouths of _his_ men.

Numbly, the ship touched ground. And instantly he was off, storming out onto the Umbaran base his battalion had managed to capture. Anakin caught sight of a familiar pauldron, two flowing kamas. There was a slump in his posture that wasn’t usually seen in any of his men, much less his captain.

Looking around, he noticed the same broken, tormented, hurt, betrayed expression all his men wore, their eyes blank and empty. Devoid of their usual sparkle. Several flinched away from him, from his lightsaber.

_There were so few._

A angry, wounded noise left his lips, dragging his captain’s gaze to him.

Rex looked at him, straightened up, and saluted, “General Skywalker, sir!”

“At ease,” Anakin hissed, hand signaling for any and all nearby men to gather. They warily approached him, cautious and hesitant.

Compelled by Anakin’s look alone, Rex let the whole, real story spill from his lips. When the captain’s voice grew horse with tears, Fives took up, finishing the rest. By the end, many of the men had bowed their heads, huddled together, holding onto each other. Fives had pressed close to their captain, Jesse and Kix on the other side.

Anger rose up, fierce and explosive, burning through his veins. He wanted to punch something, hurt something, make someone pay. He wanted to hold Krell in his grasp as he tore him apart for hurting _his_ men. His men that _he was supposed to lead, his men he had let someone else follow, his men that had died._

His men that he had abandoned.

Grief and guilt smashed into, knocking him back. A noise left him, something angry and hurt. He had left his men here, with a Jedi who had fooled everyone, left his _men, to die._ If he had just confirmed earlier, if he had just stayed-

Anakin curled his hands in a fist, letting out a growl. Then, he approached his men, the small platoon sized company. They watched him, fear and hesitation in their eyes.

He stopped in front of the small cluster around Rex.

“I’m sorry,” he said, clear and loud for everyone to hear. “I’m so sorry.”

The clones watched him in shock, eyes wide and faces slack.

“I should have been here.”

Rex crumpled, his face flooding with tears. Fives squeezed his hand down onto the Captain’s armoured shoulder. With a step forward, Anakin pulled his Captain into his arms, soothingly rubbing his back as Rex fell apart. The others stood around, unsure what to do. But Anakin pulled Kix, Fives, Jesse, Tup, and the rest closer, needing to see and know that the men remaining were alive. The men who had become his friends. Maybe he wasn’t as close to his legion as Obi-Wan was, but he still cared for them. They were still **_his_ _men_**.

They stood there, holding each other and mourning.

That night, after they boarded the _Resolute_ and returned to space, Anakin sat with his men in the common room, learning their remembrance.

He never tried to take part in their culture before, never had the mind to. But now, now he couldn’t think about leaving. Couldn’t imagine letting them out of his sight in fear that they would vanish again, that he would leave and so many more would be gone.

He refused to leave even as he got tired, even as he started drifting off against the wall. Anakin’s eyes fluttered shut before snapping back open.

“General,” Kix said from his right, placing his hand on Anakin’s arm, “you should go get some rest.”

He sucked in a breath and shook his head, “No I don’t want to leave.”

Kix nodded at him sadly, but gestured to the men stripping off their armour and piling up, “Never said you have to leave.”

Anakin smiled thankfully, moving over with him to join.


End file.
